02
To my first love who doesn't remember me
Choi Seungcheol. I met him again after wanting to see him and hear from him for a long time. When I faced him, I felt like I was back to the first day we met. My heart was beating hard. Does he remember me?
"Oh, nice to meet you."
I replied with a laugh, and Seungcheol suddenly frowned, as if to say I was uncomfortable, and my heart sank.
He doesn't remember me.
"Your Highness..."
He looked surprised and quickly turned his face away. The moment I saw that, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I felt the tip of my nose turn red, and I couldn't help but sniffle.
"Do you remember me?"
I slowly raised my head and looked at him, but I didn't hear a reply and his distant gaze answered for me.
"I'll excuse myself now."
As I watched him walk out the door with his back to me, tears began to flow.
My savior, my first love, doesn't remember me, in fact, he hates me.
.
.
.
After the so-called wedding ceremony, I got into the carriage alone with him. As the time passed in silence, I spoke carefully.
"I... Your Highness..."
Seungcheol, who was sitting across from me with his arms crossed and his eyes closed, slowlyI suddenly opened my eyes.
"here you are."
I hesitated, then sighed.
"Princess."
Then he spoke to me.
Please live quietly like a mouse.
"what…?"
"That means you should not expect to be treated like a noble lady. When the time comes, I will adopt a child, so you don't have to fulfill your duties as an Archduchess. No, do nothing, just keep quiet."
With that, he stopped the carriage. As the carriage slowly came to a halt, Seungcheol said with a wry smile,
"As the noble princess will not be happy about going with this barbarian to his house, I will dismount and go another way."
I quickly grabbed his hand. He had been mistaken. Like everyone else, he thought I was the emperor's beloved daughter. I wanted to correct this misunderstanding, and I believed I could.
"Is there something you'd like to say?"
"Grand Duke..."
He gave me a look of disgust, no longer hiding his negative feelings of loathing and hatred towards me.
Still, I forced a smile and said,
"Seungcheol, I missed you..."
"…yes?"
"It's me, Ai..."
He shook my hand off before I could finish my sentence.
"Don't ever smile at me like that again. It's unpleasant."
With that, I quickly got off the carriage. I couldn't stop crying. I was afraid he might hear me, so I covered my mouth and cried as quietly as I could.
"It's okay... it's okay... I can fix this... I'll fix it..."
I thought I could do it if I tried. I wanted to slowly get closer, build up trust, and tell her everything. That Rose was dead and Iris was alive.
And as I lay in his arms, I wanted to whisper to him about what kind of person he was, and what it meant to him, the only person I could rely on when I had no one to rely on.